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This is an archived USAID document retained on this web site as a matter of public record.
Remarks of Ambassador Harriet Babbitt, USAID Deputy Administrator
at the Sister Cities Hill Event
March 4, 1999
Since this is my second annual Sister Cities event, I feel a bit more like a veteran.
Sister Cities is probably the most widely recognized program in the world pairing cities in people to people programs. USAID has been so impressed with the people to people approach that we built on your approach when we developed our own Resource Cities program. It is one of USAID’s flagship programs to help targeted cities worldwide manage urbanization better. We call that initiative "Making Cities Work."
Since we started Resource Cities in May 1997, the demand has quickly grown for this type of technical assistance. The original five partnerships have grown to 31, from Cochin, India to Quito, Ecuador, and many points between. In addition to direct city-to-city relationships, USAID initiated our first pairing between municipal associations during the past year. The El Salvador municipal association COMURES is paired with the Florida League of Cities and Florida City/County Association.
In less than three years, the results have been impressive.
Hartford, Connecticut, helped Novrogod, Russia, change local laws and regulations to allow citizens to participate in public meetings where municipal budgets are presented and approved. Houston helped Johannesburg improve solid waste management and establish a recycling center.
These linkages helped create long-term relationships between urban management professionals that have allowed USAID to facilitate technical assistance far beyond our current resources.
In addition, partnerships begun to solve specific problems in such areas as water, health or sanitation have often blossomed to include continuing cultural and trade relationships.
Our clients in cities overseas support these efforts to exchange experiences and ideas with their peer partners, often finding them more effective than traditional paid consultants.
The key to real change is how much local people buy into both the goals and the approaches. We believe this person-to-person contact offers great promise sustainable programs and relationships, long after USAID is out of the picture.
One of the greatest challenges of the 21st century will be to make cities livable for the millions of people flocking to the urban areas of developing countries seeking opportunity.
Most of the world’s population growth in the next century will take place in the urban areas of the developing world. Bringing practical urban management techniques to these exploding urban areas is crucial if they are to provide sanitation, housing, electricity, health care and education. Otherwise, megacities will be ideal breeding grounds for poverty, hunger, disease and alienation.
Last year I told you about our new Operation Day’s Work Program, patterned after Scandinavian programs where high school students take one day off school each year and work in their communities to earn money for a project in a developing country. This spring, five pilot middle schools and high schools will hold their first work day. The students have chosen a project in Haiti. In future years, we hope to expand this student-run program to give students all over the United States an opportunity to participate.
I'd like to take this opportunity to talk about USAID's Vitamin A initiative. This has been an important year for Vitamin A. Indeed, March is an especially exciting month in the effort to combat Vitamin A deficiency.
First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton will give this effort a major boost on March 16, announcing a global partnership that includes, other development agencies and major food and pharmaceutical companies.
Mrs. Clinton, she will be joined by Philippine First Lady Dr. Luisa Ejercito Estrada. One of every three children in the Philippines is Vitamin A deficient, which prompted Dr. Estrada to launch recent campaign to fortify the wheat flour used for the bread eaten by the vast majority of Filipinos. Margarine produced in the Philippines is also fortified with Vitamin A.
A major scientific contributor to child survival, Dr. Alfred Sommer, Dean of the School of Hygiene and Public Health at Johns Hopkins University join the celebration with the Frist Lady. As a young researcher – on a USAID grant – Dr. Sommer first demonstrated the relationship between Vitamin A deficiency and child deaths, and went on to demonstrate that Vitamin A supplements could prevent child deaths.
In the 18 months since USAID began its Vitamin A initiative, we have reached approximately 12 million children worldwide with food fortification, supplements and/or education about the importance of Vitamin A.
As an example, Community health workers in Nepal distributed 1.4 million capsules, reaching 90 percent of the children under age five. I had the privilege of observing this remarkable program when I was in Nepal last year. More than 100,000 Nepalese children have been saved since the program began in 1993.
USAID is pleased that an ever-growing number of countries are supporting the distribution of Vitamin A in connection with their immunization programs. Currently 15 countries are attempting to integrate Vitamin A capsules into national immunization day campaigns as a first step.
In the area of food aid for refugee populations, USAID made a significant decision last year – that future vegetable oil supplied through the food aid program would be fortified with vitamin A. Working closely with USDA, we will be providing 150,000 metric tons of Vitamin A fortified vegetable oil which will reach more than 20 million beneficiaries annually. This is in addition to $100 million worth of other foods to refugees -- such as wheat flour and corn/soy blends – that are already fortified with Vitamin A.
The first shipment of Vitamin A- fortified oil will be sent to Kosovo this month.
Despite all this progress, vitamin A deficiency continues to threaten millions of children and their families worldwide. Sister Cities has helped to heighten awareness and drawn attention -- both here and overseas -- to this important problem. We salute your efforts.
Yet we know that despite all our activities combined, many children at the greatest risk still have not been reached. More than 100 million children are Vitamin A deficient -- and remain at higher risk of childhood illness and death.
We realize that to eliminate vitamin A deficiencies worldwide we need to enlist much broader support than we have ever had before. The business perspective provides invaluable expertise in food fortification, marketing and sustainability that cannot be overlooked. That's why we are seeking to increase our allies in the private sector to help get the job done.
Combating Vitamin A deficiency ultimately must be done one child at a time. To do that, we must also reach vulnerable communities, and the individual families of vulnerable children. And who knows more about building bridges across the world – about reaching people to people -- than Sister Cities.
Thank you.
This is an archived USAID document retained on this web site as a matter of public record.
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Last Updated on: July 12, 2001 |
